The Hunt for the Red PigTail
by Oni Tsubasa
Summary: AU. Ranma and his best friend are two travellers. They get mixed up in a quest to find a warrior who can save them all. But the only thing they know is to find a red pigtail or a black pigtail. Guess who they're looking for.
1. Chapter 1

The Hunt for the Red Pig-Tail

Disclaimer : I do not own Ranma 1/2. It is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. GOD BLESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI! I do own characters like Kurtis who are not in the actual Ranma 1/2 series.

* * *

A teenage boy looking the age of about 16 wearing a large, black robe, waltzed through the streets of the capital city of the kingdom of Nerima. He looked around for his companion who had somehow wandered off. "Kurtis? Hey, Kurtis? Where are you?" 

Another teenager who looked a little older than his friend and who was wearing a brown robe snuck up behind him and dinged him off the back of the head. "Hey Ranma! What's up?"

The teenager named Ranma glared at his companion. "Kurtis. Don't do that. I really hate when you sneak up on me like that." Kurtis just smiled, causing Ranma to sigh. "Come on. Let's go find somewhere to stay the night and then tomorrow we'll get some supplies and leave." Kurtis nodded and they started off.

After walking for a few minutes they heard loud commotion. "What was that?" Ranma yelled at his friend.

"Beats me! Let's go check it out!" They ran forward as quickly as they could. And by how they ran, it was easy to tell that they were martial artists. It was easy to tell because there were a lot of martial artists in Nerima. And as being martial artists, they could run quite fast.

After running for a few seconds, they saw what made the commotion. It was a large grey monster. It was easily eleven feet high. It had claws and teeth bigger than Ranma's head, which as Kurtis joked a lot, was rather big. It's eyes were blood red. The two friends looked at each other and nodded. Ranma jumped onto the roof tops while Kurtis stayed to the streets.

It was a simple maneuver they had initiated many times to stay alive. Kurtis would be the distraction while Ranma would go in, literally, for the kill.

Kurtis ran in front of the monster and after pulling out one of the katanas strapped to his side, slashed the monsters lower body to get it's attention. Now most martial artists would say using a weapon was for the weak but Kurtis balanced weapon and hand-to-hand fighting extremely well. He also was very good at using random items as weapons.

The slash did the trick. It made the monster turn it's attention from the screaming and running villagers to the small, puny human who would soon be dead. Or so it thought. As it raised it's foot to stomp him into the ground, Kurtis sped under it's open legs, cutting the thighs as he went. He turned and went with the same tactic two more times before the monster caught on. 'Wow,' Kurtis thought. 'Never fought one this stupid before.' He looked up to Ranma who was waiting for his signal. Kurtis nodded and held up five fingers as he dodged another blow from the monster.

Five. Four. Dodge. Three. Slash. Two. One. Jump. Zero. "HYAAHH!" Kurtis and Ranma screamed as Kurtis stroke upwards, cutting into the monster's chin while Ranma kicked the monster's head down, impaling it more onto Kurtis' blade.

* * *

Several minutes later Kurtis was still looking at the monster blood on his sword with disgust. He turned to Ranma and smiled. "Get down with your bad self. Oh right. Go us." They high-fived each other. 

"Good work, Kurtis." He smiled at his best friend.

"You too, Ranma." Kurtis smiled wider at his best friend. "Quickest kill yet. Not much on smarts. That's for sure."

"That's for sure."

The people began coming out to see what had happened. They really weren't expecting to see two young bo.. men to have killed a large monster some of the weaker martial artists, who still were champions of some tournaments, hadn't been able to kill. The Morchai were especially not happy. Two kids had taken the cop's kill.

One Morchai walked over to them. "HEY! You two!" Ranma and Kurtis looked at the man. "Do you have a permit to kill that monster?"

"NANI!" They both yelled at once. Permit! What permit? There had never been a mention of a permit from any of the other towns or villages or cities they had helped.

"I guess that's a no." He was a teenager looking about the same age as Ranma. He had black hair and yellow-spotted bandana on his head. "Well. I'll have to put you under arrest."

"Under what charges!" Kurtis yelled at him

"Killing a Teres without a permit, that's what." He replied cooly.

"Well none of the other villages had a problem with us." Kurtis replied with a hint of anger.

"A confession? Hmm.. So it seems you have done this before. I have no choice now."

Ranma was holding Kurtis back from beating the crap out of the cop. "Why you! I'll.. I'll!" WHACK! Ranma hit Kurtis over the back of his head with one of Kurtis' sheaths.

"Calm down Kurtis. We don't want any trouble." He whispered in the slightly dazed Kurtis' ear. He turned to the cop. "Well officer. Let's go. He won't be anymore trouble. I promise on my word as a martial artist." He glared at Kurtis. "Isn't that RIGHT, Kurtis?" Kurtis simply nodded, still with stars in his eyes.

* * *

The officer took them down to the police station. It was a large building with many windows and doors. Kurtis looked at the windows nervously because most had bars on them. He turned to his friend. "Ranma?" Ranma looked to him. "I'm kinda not too sure about this. Remember the last time we were arrested?" Ranma nodded. "Ya. This seems like then all over again." He got pinged off the head by a rock thrown by the cop that had arrested them. 

"Shut up! You can tell your story later. And we'll decide what to do with you." Kurtis glared angrily at him.

They were led into the station. All around them were Morchai of different kinds. "There were tall ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones, muscular ones, wimpy ones, martial artists, warriors, males, females. Kurtis whistled at the sheer variety of people there. But he was getting really anxiuos now. Because, because they had a record. A rather, shifty, record. Something they would be sure to get in trouble for.

They were in the middle of the large entrance when Kurtis got an idea. He whispered it to Ranma who looked sceptical at first then nodded. Kurtis began squirming and writhing in Ranma's grasp. "Let me go! Let me go! GAAH!" People began looking at them. They had heard of two boys that had taken down a rather large Teres and then were arrested for 'not having a permit.' What a load of bull. But here were two boys, both in large robes, one with two empty weapon sheathes who was struggling in the grasps of another boy. "LET ME GO!"

"Okay." Ranma let go.

Most people said after that that they were Teres in disguise. Kurtis single-handedly took down over half of the Morchai station, while Ranma just stood there with a smirk on his face, taking out any that got too close.

Kurtis was mad, scared, annoyed, hungry, and tired. Not a good combination for someone like him. He was punching, kicking, smashing people over the heads with chairs and a couple desks, and for one rather annoying Morchai, Kurtis-Fuing him into submission. What guy wouldn't after facing the wrath of the Kurtis-Fu Special Technique, 'Triple Crotch Kick.' Which was exactly what he did. Poor guy.

* * *

Ranma and Kurtis looked around at their, or Kurtis', handiwork. Unconcious bodies were spread out all around the room, same with broken furniture, and men in painful positions with pained looks on their faces. Kurtis turned to Ranma. "I think that went well. Don't you?" 

"Ya." Ranma smirked. "Ya it did."

Kurtis snickered. "I took care of this one. You have it the next time we get arrested."

"Next time? Whatever do you mean?" Ranma asked with a mock confused expression.

"Oh please, this is the third time this month we've been arrested. It would take a miracle or diplomatic immunity for us to keep out of jail. And next time you play the angry criminal and I'll play the nice one."

Ranma sighed. "Fine." He smiled. "Come on, let's get out of here." Kurtis nodded.

As they were walking out the door a young woman came running in, nearly knocking Kurtis over. She had long brown hair tied in a ponytail with a ribbon and a simple yet elegant dress. She grabbed onto his shirt. "Please! Please help save my sister! She's being attacked by a Teres! Please help me! Please help my sister!" He soothed her while she cried and looked to Ranma.

"Shall we?" Ranma nodded. Kurtis raised trhe chin of the woman. "Don't worry ma'am, we'll help your sister. Now show us where she is." She nodded with tears of happiness and relief overtaking tears of fear.

She stood up. "This way. Sniff She's in the castle courtyard. Come on. Hurry."

She ran off and the two friends looked at each other and nodded.

* * *

A girl with long blackish-blue hair and a fancy martial artist gi was dodging a large Teres that was slightly larger than the one before. It looked like the other one and had come screaming after finding the other one dead. 'Damnit! This isn't going well! I'm.. I'm not going to be able to beat it!' She looked around frantically. 'Where are those damned Morchai when you need them?' As her thoughts wandered the Teres was able to get a hit in, making her go flying into the eastern wall. It began advancing on her. 

"HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!" A yell came from across the courtyard. She turned to look and saw her sister with two people in long robes, one black, and one brown. The yell seemed to have come from the one in black. The brown one looked to the black one in what she guessed was shocked.

"AKANE! ARE YOU OKAY!" She heard her sister's voice.

"KASUMI! THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE!" Her sister smiled with tears of happiness coming from her eyes.

When they saw the monster hit the girl, something snapped in Ranma. No one hits a girl, even if she wasn't completely defenseless. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!" Kurtis looked at him quizzically and turned again when the two sisters called happily out to each other. He turned back to Ranma.

"What we used before ain't gonna work this time. We need to hit it harder from the looks of it's armor." Ranma nodded. Kurtis had always been the smarter of the two and had always been better at planning things in advance. "Let's use 'them.'" Ranma looked at him in shock then nodded.

"Right. Let's go."

The two sped off in opposite directions. Ranma ran in front of the monster and grabbed the girl the woman, Kasumi, had called Akane. "Ma'am. We're here to help. We've done this many times before."

Akane blushed. She thought she would die, then her sister had come with two people and, he was so strong. She felt safe and almost moaned in reluctance when he put her down beside her sister but caught herself and blushed harder. He turned back to help his friend..

Kurtis was attacking it from behind, causing it to lose it's focus on Akane and turn to him instead. Which may have not been the best idea because it was bigger than the last one by a good four feet and had much bigger claws and teeth. He gulped and turned to see Ranma attack from the other side.

With a timing that could only have been practiced by most, the two jumped back. Kurtis readied his two swords and Ranma got into a position with his hands cupped to the side. They nodded. "HITEN KAGEN RYU!" "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" They yelled at once.

Out of Kurtis' swords, two waves of red energy shot out, and out of Ranma's hands, a large ball of red energy shot out. Ranma's blast hit first and sent the monster into Kurtis' waves, cutting it into four pieces. Ranma smirked while Kurtis put on a large smile and thrust his two fingers out into a 'V'.

"Good job Ran."

"Good job yourself Kurt."

Akane and Kasumi ran up to the two smiling martial artists. Kasumi cried in thanks and gave both of them kisses on the cheeks, causing them both to redden. Akane walked up and smiled sheepishly to Ranma. "Thanks." She said in a sheepish voice. "If you hadn't come, I, I don't know what would have happened."

Ranma rubbed the back of the head of his robe in embarassment. "Don't worry about it. That's what we do."

She smiled at him. "Ya, well, thanks."

He felt his face go red at her smile. He laughed nervously and turned to Kurtis who was stifling his own fit of laughter.

"MY DAUGHTERS!" A voice yelled out. "YOU'RE SAFE!" A tall man came running out into the courtyard. The man glomped onto his daughter and wept in happiness. "You're safe, you're safe." He then glomped onto Kasumi doing the same thing. He had a nice robe and, "A CROWN!" Both boys yelled out in surprise.

He looked to them. "And who are you?" 'Better not be after my daughters or I'll kill them myself.'

Akane walked over to the shocked pair. "Daddy, theses are the two that saved me. Umm.. Who are you?"

Ranma was the first to speak up. "Ranma Sa.." Kurtis stepped on his foot. "Ranma. just Ranma."

Kurtis bowed. He had figured it out. "And I, Your Majesty, am Kurtis. Just Kurtis." Ranma looked at Kurtis, then the king, then Kurtis, then back to the king in shock. "Yes Ranma, he's the king of Nerima. And I'm guessing these lovely women are the princesses." Both blushed at being called lovely and nodded.

The king smiled at them. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you my kingdom, and more importantly my daughters, are safe. Thank you." He bowed, shocking all of them. Akane and Kasumi because he had never bowed to anyone except their mother before, and Ranma and Kurtis because they didn't think they deserved to have such praise. They rubbed the backs of their heads in embarassment.

"Think nothing of it, sir. We just did what any martial artists would do. It is after all a martial artist's duty to protect people and fight monsters." Kurtis said.

"Well, I thank you again. My name is Soun Tendo and these are my daughters Kasumi," he pointed to Kasumi, "and Akane." He pointed to Akane. The two boys bowed deeply to the princesses. 'Hmm. Ranma. I wonder. And Kurtis? Hmm. This requires some looking in to.' "Please, may I be so brash but to ask you to stay for a while? We could use your help with the Teres."

The two friends looked at each other then back to the king. They stepped back a bit and turned to whisper. "Kurtis. This may not be such a good idea."

"Ya. Especially if those damn Morchai come back. That would be trouble." Ranma nodded. 'But if I can get Ranma and the princess together, seeing as they were almost eating each other up with their eyes, then he would be above the Morchai, and me being his best friend...' "I say we give it a try."

"Nani!"

"Just think! We can actually get GOOD food, a real place to sleep, and Ranma, all the free Ramen we could ever want!" Their mouths started to water and they nodded. They walked over to the royals. "Sure. We'll stay."

* * *

Soun was sitting in his den, thinking of his old best friend. His best friend had supposedly died several years ago. He had been the king of Tenin and they had made an arrangement for their kids to get married so the two kingdoms could be united. He sighed. How he missed his old friend. His thoughts changed to the two boys that now stayed at the castle. Kurtis and Ranma. His friend's son had been named Ranma. 'I wonder?'

* * *

Kurtis and Ranma had died and gone to heaven. There was free food wherever they turned. They were almost constantly eating something. Right now, they were on their sixth helping of Ramen, their favourite food. "Ranma. This is AWESOME! I am so glad we decided to stay here!" 

"Ya! The food is great, there are beds..." Akane walked past him and smiled

"And the scenery ain't bad either, huh?" Kurtis asked sarcastically.

Ranma's face reddened. "Shut up."

"Oh please. You have been watching each other every time you see her. Go ask her out."

Ranma sighed. "I can't. She's a princess and... I'm..."

"A good guy, a martial artist, a great friend and travelling companion, a bit of a jerk sometimes, but hey, who isn't?"

"That's not what I meant Kurtis. I'm just a wanderer. Same with you. We'd never be given consent to ask a princess out, let alone marry. No, we're just, nobodies to everybody."

They both sighed. "If you told them who you were..."

Ranma shook his head. "No. That would be terrible. I can't do that."

"Hey wait. What did you mean **WE'D** never get consent? I was talking about you."

Ranma laughed. "You never know Kurtis. You never know. And besides, I saw how you looked at Kasumi." Ranma broke out in full body laughing while Kurtis fumed and grabbed a roller pin.

"I'LL GET YOU!" Kurtis began chasing after a laughing Ranma with the roller pin, trying to hit him on the head. They ran from the hallway into a room where Akane was at the moment. Ranma was too far away from Kurtis to hit him close range so Kurtis threw the roller pin, only to have Ranma move out of the way. The roller pin flew over the head of a bemused Akane and hit the wall, which pushed over a large stone, which in turn pushed another large stone, which was previously blocking a large stone tablet.

They all watched in shock as the stone tablet came to view. They went up to it and tried to read the slightly faded writing. "I.. I can't read it." Said a slightly annoyed Akane.

"Me neither," replied Ranma.

Kurtis just stared. "Kurtis?"

_"'In the time when danger's nigh, __And the moon is red and full. __A fighter will come to quench the pain. __They will rise to defeat, __The ancient evil, __And let the battle be won. __But if the fighter shall fail, __Then all is lost in the battle come, __So if you seek the fighter strong, __Then seek the red pig-tail.'"_

They all looked at him in disbelief. "You.. You can read that!" Akane asked in disbelief.

"It's an old language from where I came from, from the land I left, so many years ago." He got a wistful look in his eyes. "But that passed a long time ago. And there is more."

_"'If the red pig-tail, cannot be found. __Then seek the black, the prince's crown. __With him comes, a warrior true, __Of hate, of dark, of love, of light. __With the ones, journey to the land of sorrow, __And there you shall find the red pig-tail. __And you shall live to see the 'morrow.'"_

Ranma had frozen up when he had spoken of the black, the prince's crown. Him. The black pig-tail, the crown prince. Kurtis looked to his friend. He knew most of what the second part was talking about. Ranma. "Things are never easy. They may at times seem like that, but they hardly ever are. Come on, let's get out of here." Ranma nodded and the two of them left. Akane stood there, wondering.

* * *

Two days had passed since the prophecy had been uncovered. Soun had sent out search parties for the 'red pig-tail' or the 'black'. The moon became red in two weeks.

* * *

Ranma and Kurtis were sparring in the courtyard. To anyone who did not know martial arts, it would have looked like a graceful and amazing dance. To anyone with prior knowledge, it would have looked like a fierce battle. And that it was. The two were both very good at what they did. Hell. For the whole time they had been in Nerima, their robes had never fallen off. 

As they were fighting, Akane came out to watch. She was amazed and slightly jealous of their skill. They moved so fast, so gracefully, it was, amazing. She smiled and watched Ranma the most. He was so nice, his voice was powerful and yet sweet, and he was so muscular. She felt her face getting hot.

BOOM! A resounding explosion careened through the courtyard. They all turned and saw one of the biggest Teres any of them had ever seen. It was close to twenty feet tall, with claws and fangs almost the size of Akane. Kurtis and Ranma gulped. They hadn't fought one this big since Joketsuzoku. And even it hadn't had such big claws.

"Why, what big teeth you have." Kurtis said nervously. He looked to Ranma. Ranma looked to him. They both gulped, then nodded. They rushed the Teres.

Ranma ran to the right while Kurtis took to the right. Kurtis pulled out his swords and took no time in yelling out to Ranma. "Ranma! Use 'IT'!" He couldn't see him but he knew Ranma nodded. They both stopped their movements. "HITEN KAGEN RYU!" "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" Just like the last time, Ranma's blast shot the monster to Kurtis' blasts, but this Teres was able to withstand the blow and not be killed. They looked at it shocked for a few seconds until the need to survive overtook them. Ranma grabbed Akane again and put her in a safe place while Kurtis just kept blasting it. Nothing was working.

They ran to beside each other. "Ranma! I have a plan! I just hope it works."

"What is it?" Ranma asked hurriedly as they dodged another most-likely-fatal slash.

Kurtis gave Ranma his one sword. "We combine our ki attacks. We Hiten Kagen Ryu, Isei Dageki, and Mouko Takabisha it into oblivion." Ranma nodded, it was their best plan.

They stood side by side. Ranma and Kurtis both held their swords in their left hand and pointed their right towards the demon. "HITEN KAGEN RYU!" They yelled together. "ISEI DAGEKI!" "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" All four, red ki blasts shot out at the Teres. They all hit it at once, which caused a bright flash, a loud explosion, a large wave of dust, and a rather warm blast of air. It vaporized the monster, but not before it swiped it's claws out in a last ditch attack, cutting the top of Ranma's robe off.

When the dust cleared, two figures still stood. Akane ran to them and hugged the taller one, Ranma. Kurtis mocked being miffed, then smiled as Kasumi walked over. He turned to Ranma and his eyes opened wide in shock and fear.

Ranma looked at him quizzically and touched his head, his eyes opened wide. "Uh oh." No more hood.

Akane looked up at him with puzzlement. For the first time she saw his face. He had a strong face and was quite handsome. She saw the black hair, then looked slightly closer. His hair was tied into, "A PIG-TAIL!"

* * *

I am evil. Can you say cliffhanger?The questionsrhetorical by the way. 

The Morchai are the police and monster hunters. The Teres are the monsters. They come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and forms.

So, what did you think? Please R&R.

Thank you, Arigato.

Oni Tsubasa


	2. Chapter 2

The Hunt for the Red Pig-Tail

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2. It is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I do own Kurtis though.

Kurtis looked at Akane. Akane looked at Ranma. Ranma looked at Kurtis. Akane turned and looked at Kurtis. Ranma turned and looked at Akane. Kurtis looked at Ranma and Akane looked at Ranma's pig-tail. She fainted.

Ranma just barely was able to grab Akane before she fell. He looked fearfully at Kurtis who looked fearfully at him as well. Kurtis nervously laughed. "This isn't good." Ranma laughed nervously as well and nodded.

"That's for sure."

"AKANE!" A voice from behind yelled. "AKANE! RANMA! KURTIS!" The two teens turned to see Soun was running from the steps of the palace to the courtyard where the three of them stood.

"Shit!" Ranma cursed. He turned to Kurtis. "Kurtis! Help!"

Kurtis rubbed his chin. "I've got it!" He quickly took off his cloak and gave it to Ranma and took Ranma's hoodless cloak. "There!"

Now Ranma's pigtail was covered. But Kurtis' eyes were visible. Ranma nodded. "Thanks. Umm. Kurt? Your eyes."

Kurtis cocked his head to the side. "My..eyes? SHIT!" He closed his eyes quickly.

Soun finally made it over to the two of them and he was gasping and wheezing. "What... Happened?" He pointed at Akane.

"Umm.. She fainted. Yes fainted." Ranma replied nervously.

"What happened to you?" Ranma nudged Kurtis.

"Dust. I got.. Dust in my eyes. Yes.. Dust.." A groan from Ranma's direction was heard, causing them to turn to the regaining conciousness Akane.

"AKANE! You're okay!" Soun glomped onto her again, pushing her farther away from Ranma.

"Waah! DAD! Get off!" She tried to push him off put to no avail. He was in crying in happiness mode again. Ranma pulled him off her and Akane nodded in thanks. "Wait! Ranma!" He turned to her nervously. "You have the black pig-tail!"

"What?" He squeaked out. "I... I don't have a pig-tail.. You must be seeing things. I don't have a pig-tail, do I Kurtis?"

Kurtis squinted. "I don't see a pig-tail."

Ranma nodded and turned back to Akane. "See? Even Kurtis said I don't have a pig-tail."

She growled at him. "No. He said he didn't see a pig-tail. I know you have one." She began inching closer to him. "Now.. Just take.. Off the hood.. And.. Prove you don't have A PIG-TAIL!" She jumped at him and tried to push away the hood but Ranma side-stepped away from her. "GAH!" She said as she fell to the ground. She began tearing up as her leg scraped the ground and opened up slightly.

True to Ranma's nature, he hated to see a girl crying. He knelt down to her. "You okay?"

"HAH!" She said as she grabbed Ranma's cloak and pulled it off him.

"SHIT!" Ranma tried to hide his pig-tail from view. He was able to cover it but it looked extremely conspicuous so he sighed and dropped his hands, causing his pig-tail to pop into view.

Soun, Akane, and Kasumi who had just arrived looked shocked. Kurtis tried being surprised. "Ranma! You had the pig-tail! And you never told your best friend." Kurtis shook his head. "Bad Ranma."

Ranma snarled. "Shut up Kurtis. At least I don't have two different coloured eyes." He pried Kurtis' hands away from his face where he had put them so his eyes wouldn't be seen. Kurtis had a strong-looking face as well. He had brown hair tied in a small pony-tail at the back, had the beginnings of a beard on his face, but most shockingly of all, had two different coloured eyes, one blood red, and the other sky-blue.

"Eep!" Kurtis closed his eyes and concentrated. 'Green, green, green!' He grabbed his blade and reflected the appearance of his face off of it. Still different colours. 'DAMNIT!' He cursed mentally. He turned with an apprehensive and slightly scared look on his face as he replaced his blade. "Hehehe..."

Soun, Akane and Kasumi stared in shock. The boy in the prophecy was standing in front of them, Ranma with the black pig-tail. And his friend had two different coloured eyes! "Wha.. Wha.." Soun stuttered. He did what seemed natural at the moment. He fainted.

Kurtis and Ranma stared at each other and laughed nervously. They turned to the two Tendo girls. "Hehehe.." Kurtis laughed nervously again. "Well this is.. Akward..."

Ranma nodded. Akane shook her head and smiled. Ranma and Kurtis grew slightly scared. "This is great!" "HUH!" The two boys said at once. She smiled again. "Don't you see? Now we've found the person with the black pig-tail! Now alls we have to do is go to the 'Lands of Sorrow' and we'll have saved the world!"

Kurtis and Ranma just stared at her. Kasumi chided her softly. "Akane, I know you want to see the outside world, but something bad could happen. And besides, what would father say?"

"My baby is leaving me!" Akane joked. Kasumi stifled a giggle and nodded, Ranma and Kurtis just looked at each other with a look that said, 'and we thought we were weird.'

Kasumi grew more serious. "You could get hurt, or worse, killed. And besides, that prophecy could very well be false. It could just be a joke or could have been read wrong or could be fake entirely, made by someone who wanted to make a name for themselves."

"That prophecy is a well-respected legend and truth in my home. It has happened before, several times, and will happen again." Kurtis said wistfully. He sighed. "It happens differently each time, sometimes, the one with the red pig-tail is found first, they could be a guy or a girl. Other times the 'black' is found first, although they are always male." Soun woke up. Kurtis looked to Ranma who sighed and nodded. "And they are always the crown-prince of some kingdom. Ranma's the ex-crown-prince of the Dead Kingdom Tenin." Soun gasped as tears came to his eyes.

"Then.. You are the son of.. Genma?"

Ranma looked at him. "You knew him?" Soun nodded. "Yes, he was my father."

More tears came to Soun's eyes. "OH HAPPY DAY!" He rushed over and hugged Ranma, squeezing all the air out of him. "OH HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!"

Everyone else except Soun was confused as hell. What was he doing? Kurtis decided to ask. "Umm.. Sir? What are you doing?"

Soun looked down and saw a blue-Ranma. He quickly let go but put his hands on Ranma's shoulders. "The son of my good friend, Genma! Is here!"

Akane looked at them. "You knew his father, daddy?" Soun nodded.

"We were the best of friends. We were trained to be kings and martial artists by the master."

"Who was the master?" Ranma asked.

Soun shuddered. "Please. Do not make me tell you. It is better if his name is not known." His face took a happier turn. "Yes we were the best of friends. We even met our wives at the same time. We promised something too." He looked at the them all, although he squared out Ranma and Akane in his mind's eye. "But that is important no longer." He looked at Kurtis. "How did you know about Ranma?"

"Well. I've been with Ranma since he was four. I met him twelve years ago, at the edge of his burning kingdom, where I saved him from a Teres. I was seven at the time. We've been together ever since. He told me of his past and his roots. That's how I know."

"You were six and you killed a Teres!" Akane asked in wonderment.

"Killed! No. I grabbed him and ran for it. I had no weapons and only a small amount of fighting experience. And the Teres was bigger than most of us combined in height."

"Oh... I see..."

Ranma sighed. "Let us introduce ourselves again. I am Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and heir to the throne of the dead kingdom of Tenin."

Kurtis bowed. "And I am Kurtis Kurushimi, Grandmaster to the Himin Higiryuu Kai, and heir to the throne of Kanashimi, the Forgotten Kingdom." Everyone looked at him with shocked expressions, even Ranma.

"You..You're a pr...prince!" Ranma shouted out.

Everyone looked at him. "You mean you didn't know?" Akane asked.

"No... No. He never told me much about his past. Only told me that he cam from a kingdom long forgotten and lost. I never knew he was a pr..prince... Like me.."

Kurtis sighed. "I was three.. Three when I was forced out of my kingdom.. With my sister.. She was two.. I took me her with me for as long as I could, but I had to leave her at somewhere safe, I haven't seen her, for so long..."

"Kurtis.." Kasumi whispered.

"It does not matter if I was once a prince... The kingdom is lost.. To everyone.. Including me, my sister, everyone. There is nothing for me there anyway. 'Sorrow.' The name of the land. A suitable name, for a place where so much death occurred..." He sighed.

"I wonder what my sister is doing now... She would be eighteen now... I'm sure she is doing fine with the ones I left her with... A family of martial artists.. Hehe.." He sighed again.

Kasumi put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Kurtis." Only she saw the lone tear that fell from his eye. He blinked and looked up at them all. They all except Ranma gasped. His eyes were now green!

"How.. How did you do that?" Akane asked, shocked.

"Magic. I was born with a blue and red eye, when I was four, I was given a power to change my eye colour at will. Although they turns red and blue when I fight."

"And they turn black and white when you are have overly active emotions." Ranma muttered, but still loud enough for Kurtis to hear.

"Black and white?" Ranma nodded. "I never noticed them do that before..."

"Well usually when you get over-emotional you beat someone up and your eyes turn red and blue. But those rare times, you don't beat on someone, and your eyes go white and black."

"Like what do you mean, white and black?"

"One eye is completely white, no pupil or anything, and the other eye is completely black, like it's just the pupil."

"Weird." Ranma nodded.

"I first saw it when you were sleeping one time. Hey did you know you sleep with your eyes half open?"

"It's so I can still keep watch in my sleep. It's just natural now."

"Oh. Anyway, your eyes were half open and I saw you begin to shake and squirm. I walked over and your eyes were white and black. I shook you and you woke up quickly, sweating, and they quickly changed back to green."

"Oh, well. Neat. I never knew that."

Soun was just watching by now. "Well... We've had quite a day. Who says we go inside and get something to eat then discuss what we do next. After all, we've found the one with the black pig-tail, we need to decide what to do next." Everyone nodded.

They began walking back inside when a large object flew over everyone's heads, and smashed into the back of Kurtis'. "GAH!" He fell over in a daze. He got up with his eyes quickly reverting back to red and blue while still looking slightly swirly. He just barely dodged another object when a voice was heard.

"You JERK! How dare you leave me with those. Those.. ASSES! Do you know how long it took me to find you?" Kurtis shook his head to relieve the dizziness and looked at the figure.

She was a pretty girl, with long brown hair tied in a half pony-tail, with the top half in the pony-tail and the bottom hanging loosely on her back. She wore a strange frilly black dress, that hug her body loosely and reached down to her ankles. She wore well traveled brown shoes and held a large mallet in her hands, her face tightened in fury and her grey eyes blazing with anger.

"JERK!" She came running at Kurtis who was still confused and shocked as hell, who simply dodged the swing of her mallet.

"Do I know you?" He asked calmly. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"You don't remember me?" Tears bagan forming in her eyes.

"I'm sure I would remember someone as pretty as you." He replied, still calm.

Her tears stopped and she looked at him and giggled. "You shouldn't be hitting on me you know."

He began to stutter. "I.. I wasn't... I didn't.. I wasn't hitting on you. I was just stating the truth."

She giggled again. "You always did know how to cheer me up."

He looked at her with a confused look again. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before. You _seem _familiar, but don't _look_ familiar. Who are you?"

She stepped up close. "It's me, Heather." She whispered.

"HEATHER!" He yelled out in surprise. She nodded, causing him to smile. He grabbed her in a hug. "Heather!"

She laughed and then coughed. "Air please." He looked at her sheepishly and let go.

"Who is this young woman?" Kasumi asked in a slightly strained-sounding voice.

He smiled at them all. "Guys! I would like you to meet my sister, Heather Kurushimi, Princess of Kanashimi." Kurtis swore he could hear the crickets.

"SISTER!" Everyone yelled at once. Kurtis nodded.

"Yep, my sister I told you about, Heather. And I know it's her because she's the only girl I've ever met with grey eyes. Although I don't know where she got the mallet from." He rubbed the back of his head in memory of the pain.

Heather laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was mad at you for leaving me with those people so I released my anger with how they taught me, with my mallet. I may not like them but they sure had good anger-management ideas..." Kurtis sweat-dropped.

"Riiiight. Anyway. What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you." She whispered in his ear. "I need to tell you something later, in private." He nodded and turned to everyone else.

"Well come on, we still need to plan what to do next." He walked off towards the entrance of the castle with his sister on his heels. The remaining group looked at each other, shrugged and followed the two reunited-siblings.

My good friend Heather asked to be in this story so I complied, and she helped with her summary.

Kurtis' fighting style is completely made up by me. So if it similar to anything from anywhere else, I apologize.

Please R&R. Thank-you.

Oni Tsubasa


End file.
